simple daily thoughts about God and life, from the rural mountains of guatemala.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

a different place

"i am so glad tomorrow is my mom's birthday. i don't think my dad will beat her on her birthday."

that was from a recent note that one of the rhino's wrote in class. the assignment was simply to write about anything going on in your life right now.

as we visited his mom yesterday, like always, she said she was fine. rock hard, she smiled and said its all good. but i dug deeper. "are you sure? is there anything we can do to help right now? how are things with your husband? with the kids? life in general?"

she finally broke. husband is officially gone, only shows up drunk to make noise or pass out - then he leaves again for days/weeks at a time. to make matters worse, she just lost her job. and if that's not enough, creditors are coming to her house threatening to take over her property since her husband is in default on a lien against it.

8 kids, no husband, no job, and at risk of losing her home.

welcome to my village - where nightmare stories such as this one are commonplace.

we are here for her. we will help her, without question.

but even deeper, by God's grace, we will help her son to become a man who will honor God and love and provide for his family. and then his kids will follow in his footsteps. and then.... this will be a different place.